Chapter 3 #3
Honestly, I somewhat expected her to tell me to fuck off for being so demanding, or maybe ignore me.
I even put my phone away, knowing that nothing good could come from my overzealous behavior.
It was odd, though—this was a far fucking stretch from my normal lighthearted temperament.
Well, the one not attached to my wolf… he was different.
I couldn’t help this, though. I mean, shit—I was twenty and I’d just found my goddamn mate.
You try controlling yourself. I increased my pace, not even bothering to fight the urge to get to her as soon as possible.
I would feel far fucking better the minute I could get my arms around her, have her close enough to me that nothing bad could happen.
Was it so much to ask for her to never leave my side again? Okay, it was possible that was an extreme request.
I had to wonder who the hell had thought it was a good idea to send Effie here.
I mean, Kirkwall was a rather small and isolated town to begin with, filled mostly with different wolf packs.
Unlike many parts of the country, it wasn’t segregated by territory.
Did that mean we got along? Hardly. But there was respect there.
Except when it came to mating. That shit was off limits.
Good luck trying to come to an agreement over that without it turning into a dominance battle, because each species felt the pull of the mating bond differently.
Unless you were in a blood-bonded pack like us.
That pull was clear as day, and I was actually surprised Caedmon hadn’t smelled Effie on me, because I had almost instantly been tuned into her the moment I walked into the train car she was curled up in.
It had taken a while for me to figure out who I was scenting, but once I did, I hadn’t been able to look away.
The moment I’d met her gaze, though, my instincts had been secured, and I knew she was the one.
Still, despite this town’s effort to be a ‘good place’ for shifters, I wasn’t positive why anyone would send a bitten here unless they were with a pack and under protection already.
I had come here with a pack of lycan wolves, a lot like Caedmon, but had quickly separated upon forming our bond.
She was here alone, and that spelled trouble.
Being a bitten was held in extremely high regard at Silver Falls.
As in, everyone would want to be around her and know her, but there was the added element that she was also a woman.
I just wasn’t positive that Effie was aware of the effect she had on male wolves, and more so that bitten female wolves were considered the best possible choice of mate out of all.
This was followed by bitten male wolves.
So yeah, like I fucking said, catnip. Wolfnip? Sure, whatever.
Fuck, I hated the concept of anyone but our bonded group considering her a potential mating option.
I knew until we marked her and covered her in our scent, she wouldn’t be fully safe.
Hell, until I was buried inside of her and our bond was one hundred percent solidified, she would be in danger of someone thinking they could take her.
Not everyone cared about consent of mating as much as we did, and that was a fucking problem.
I swallowed nervously, fighting my instinct to mark her immediately versus not scaring the absolute hell out of her.
I knew we weren’t there yet. The group of us would just always need to be around her until we figured out a way to handle this.
Putting aside that I had a hard time believing someone as perfect as Effie was our mate…
I couldn’t believe a bitten wolf was our mate.
That was a huge fucking deal. Because bitten wolves were comparatively ‘mostly human’ compared to the other three species, it allowed for the other genetic strains of wolf to come across stronger without cross-polluting with humans fully.
Essentially, our wolves were usually weaker, so the pups that were born favored the other, more dominant, breed’s traits.
It made me wonder how we had gotten so lucky that she not only ended up here but that someone hadn’t already tried to claim her.
I suppose I didn’t know if anyone had tried, something that infuriated me, but it was clear they hadn’t been successful.
I mean, shit—I had been in far too many situations before arriving here where I had been nearly forced into a mating bond myself.
Luckily, I had been part of a pack that valued decency, but I knew the danger that existed out there.
Plus, mating with bitten wolves introduced some variety into the genetic pool.
It was a fucking nasty subject, frankly, but some smaller packs that refused to let in outsiders ended up inbreeding, because after some point…
well, everyone was related. So yeah, smaller packs had a much simpler family tree, if you know what I mean.
I cringed, trying to remove that thought process from my head, thankful that I’d been brought into such a ‘normal’ pack.
I shook myself from those thoughts and looked around, noticing that campus was growing busier already despite classes not being in session this Sunday afternoon.
The land itself was somewhat of an island, the campus nearly isolated from the city by a thick, frozen river on one side and the lake on the other.
I had taken the route through the forest on the south end of campus, but even that was pretty heavily watched, and I knew that despite not seeing campus security, they were there.
Unlike a lot of law enforcement back home, I trusted the security here. They had stopped far too many issues for me to not consider them trustworthy, so while I worried about someone talking to Effie, I knew she was safer on campus than off.
I frowned, wondering how the hell I was going to explain to her that we were mates, because while I knew she could feel it… I didn’t think that she knew exactly what was going on, and if you added three more of us into that mix, it was only going to get worse.
Preciosa: They are placing me in Eclipse building four. I’m not sure where that is.
Fuck no.
That was exactly what I was worried about.
There were several Eclipse buildings, and the ones that the four blood-bonded packs lived in, taking up the top two floors, were three and four.
Four consisted of the other assholes, and I would be dead before I let her live near them.
I picked up my phone, dialing her number easily, and I found myself relaxing as she answered it after two rings.
“Preciosa, long time no talk.”
When I called her that the first time, I had seen the confusion that had clouded her stunning face, and while I had been tempted to explain…
I was pretty damn sure it would be obvious all too soon how precious she was to me.
Her soft, almost bell-like laugh came through the phone and had my chest warming at the mere sound.
I tried to soften my words to not come across as a demanding ass.
“Where are you right now?”
“I think near a football field, maybe,” she mused, the wind whipping around her making her voice echo slightly.
“After I checked in at the Student Union? Yep. That’s what it’s called.
Hence the massive letters on it, spelling that out…
anyway, they told me to go to Eclipse Four while pointing me across the street, so I think that is where I need to go? ”
I smiled as I turned the corner and immediately saw my adorable mate, my oversized jacket completely swamping her frame as she tried to focus on a map in her hand that kept almost blowing away.
Fuck, she was perfect. I frowned, not liking how red her nose was as she shivered slightly, her cute ramble cutting off as she almost lost the map.
My gaze ran over her colorful appearance as she frowned slightly, asking if I was still there, probably confused why I hadn’t responded since I was so caught up staring at her.
Honestly, I absolutely loved looking at Effie.
She was a magnet to the eye, and not just because of all the different colored clothes she was wearing.
The woman was like a piece of art.
“Look to your right,” I explained calmly. She turned, almost stumbling, a strand of multi-colored hair escaping her beanie. She flashed me a full smile, making me smile back, unable to escape her intoxicating pull. The first thing I was doing when I got her inside was taking off that damn beanie.
I wanted to run my fingers through her hair and breathe in her scent.
I also wanted to pull her up against my chest and wrap my arms around her protectively.
I wanted her to curl up against me as we watched a movie inside my room so I could ensure she stayed warm.
I had never been romantic or protective, but I couldn’t and wouldn’t bother stopping these thoughts and ideas from developing and growing.
There was so much I wanted with Effie that I had never even considered before.
Hanging up my phone as I neared her, I watched as she looked down at her own in surprise before closing it awkwardly. I had a feeling it was not only new but something she wasn’t used to using often.
“Come on back inside real quick,” I explained, easily picking up her bag over my shoulder before offering my hand.
My chest almost puffed out with goddamn pride when she intertwined our fingers almost right away.
I couldn’t help but squeeze them a bit tighter, my wolf fucking thrilled that she was not only with us but covered in our scent and holding our hand.
I know, this was ridiculous.
The funniest part is that possessive and protective qualities weren’t even a trademark bitten wolf trait. Which meant that if I was this bad… well, I could only imagine what the others would be like.